Did something dumb today.

[Peter Drouin]

I went to the store one time to fill my travel mug with coffey. Had a guy at the store show me his new chain saw. I put my cup on the bumper of my truck. Yup, it was there when I got home.   8)

[SawyerTed]

On Thursday, I laid the bar for adjusting the jacks on my mill on the rail next to the hydraulics box.  I drove 14 miles home and 17 miles to my next job.  It was there Friday morning when I got there.  

[WV Sawmiller]

Ted,
 
  You are lucky - Mine didn't make it 10 miles from my son's house to my home when I did that. :(

[Southside]

Loosing that bar was always my greatest fear before I got the FAO's.  The thing is made out of unobtanium!!!  

[Chuck White]

Any time I lay my bar down, other than put it where it belongs, I ALWAYS put it so that it's actually "in the way"!  Doing so ensures that it won't be missed!

A few years back, I laid it down at the tail end on the mill and drove home, 1½ miles and it was gone, drove back and didn't find it, about 10 days later while driving my school bus route I spotted it laying beside the road, 1/2 mile from home!  After bus run, I went and picked it up!

Worse part was about 4-5 days after losing it, I ordered another one from Wood-Mizer at a cost of $22.00, and in the meantime I was sawing for a customer and told him of it and he said he had something like that and he gave it to me!

So then I had 3 lifting bars, I gave one to my FIL who lost his years before, and I have a spare in the cabinet!

They are definitely made of some very hard stuff!

[crowhill]

Knew it was going to be a day when I put the coffee pod in my coffee cup instead of the Kuerig this morning. Sawing hemlock for a 16' x 20' addition to deer camp. Had a 16' log on the mill from yesterday, so started the engines to warm and decided to grease the guide wheels and band wheels. What was I thinking! Guess I wasn't!! It's just the pressure is on to get the material sawn for the addition. The grease zerk on the inside of the drive side was in need of cleaning, I reached thru from the operators side with a grease rag, a no-no. Here's why. The rag and my arm put enough tension on the drive belt to start turning, just like throwing the tensioner handle on. Pulled my wrist and forearm in between an active belt and belt pulley. The engine stalled but not prior to my receiving some good belt burns and scratches. I blame it on my new beagle puppy getting me up three times during the night! So I guess I call it as a safety meeting
this morning! 

[firefighter ontheside]

That's scary.  Don't do that.

[doc henderson]

glad you are ok, taught us all a valuable lesson!

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, who'd have thunk it, but it's my turn again. I was doing some work helping the new neighbors today cutting some nuisance trees for them getting their place ready for a wedding. I had to fuel up and we were chatting while I did that and I took both caps off the saw and poured the bar oil into the gas tank. First time in my life I have EVER done this. (No kidding, really, never before, honest) As I am answering the question I was asked, while pouring I realized what I was doing. All I could do was laugh at myself. They had no idea why I started laughing, then cursing a little. Took it off into the woods and dumped it. At least I didn't try to start it. re-fueled and went about the work, but because I had wasted the single tank of bar oil, I came up short to finish the day. I had used up the end of the gallon jug. SMH When I threw my stuff in the truck this morning I knew that jug was nearly empty, but i hefted it and thought "yeah, this will be enough" and it would have, if I hadn't dumped the tank. Sometimes I amaze me. ;D

[samandothers]

Did that recently for the first time too.  It smoked a bit more through that first tank afterwards.

[doc henderson]

Nope I have never done that, but I have come close.  Not sure I will admit it when I do!   :D  If the saw runs better after let us know, maybe we will all try it.  always happens with people watching.  that is part of why we have people step out for procedures.  If they were videoing you, the saw would prob. have exploded.

[Ljohnsaw]

When I first got my Sthil saw, I would open both tanks and fill them.  About the third or forth time, I caught myself dumping gas into the oil.  Well, it wasn't until I went to put the oil in that I thought something was strange/backwards.  I just had to dump the gas out of the oil tank and I was good.  Since that day about 4 years ago, I only open the tank when I have in my hand what is going in there!

[Nebraska]

That's just cleaning out the bar oil reservoir,  crud and sawdust can fall in there and that fuel mixture floats it out so nice. ;)  Funny how i t follows with cursing.  I caught myself doing it a while ago, I was mentally  doing something else.  Never gotten more than splash in there over the years, but it's happened once or twice.  

[Magicman]

Oil in the gas tank is bad but forgetting to put the cap on the oil tank is worse.  That mess is hard to get out of your work boots!! 

[Resonator]

I put my cup on the bumper of my truck. Yup, it was there when I got home. 

There is actually a low pressure suction created behind the back of a vehicle while driving, it will help hold objects in place.

Did that recently for the first time too.  It smoked a bit more through that first tank afterwards.

I had a customer buy a used chainsaw cheap from a homeowner who thought he had ruined it by putting oil in the gas / gas in the oil. 

[sawguy21]

crowhill, that is why I never trust myself working on running machinery. : I have done more than a few dumb things over the years but nothing recent. At least I don't think I have but the memory ain't what it used to be.

[firefighter ontheside]

I have never done that, to my knowledge.  What I did years ago while fighting a brush fire was put fuel into the backpack blower I was using and then forgot to put the gas cap back on.  Can you imagine how bad that could have been if I had walked into the fire with gas pouring off the blower on my back.  If I remember correctly, I ran out of gas before I ever made it up the hill to the fire.

[adirondacker]

Do what I do....I have big RED piece of duct tape right in front of my eyes before I saw......LOOK at Bunks....raise saw head after cut....? Seems to work.....that's my story also...lol

[Ed_K]

 Yesterday I was in need of 2x4s and had 2x8s. so a quick run  smiley_horserider up to the mill and put 5 on locked them down an ran across at 8" to level the crook in a couple of them. Flipped them over and locked them down. Checked the front stops lower than 4"s and run right into the back stop  ;D.What a mess almost new 10° WM blade thems are sharp cut into the stop a 1/4" tried to pull it back an pulled it off the wheels . Had to drive a wedge in the end to get the blade out >:(.
 Not that hasn't been done before but the blade never sawed that deep  .

[Southside]

I have never done that, to my knowledge.  What I did years ago while fighting a brush fire was put fuel into the backpack blower I was using and then forgot to put the gas cap back on.  Can you imagine how bad that could have been if I had walked into the fire with gas pouring off the blower on my back.  If I remember correctly, I ran out of gas before I ever made it up the hill to the fire.

What purpose does a back pack blower serve in fighting a fire?  

[Crusarius]

blowing leaves out of the fire break.

[Old Greenhorn]

SS, a big part of fighting brush fires is creating the fire line. This is especially true with what we call 'creepers' which are smaller brush fires in higher humidity conditions that creep along the ground in the duff and leaves and underbrush. To do this you need bare ground and digging is labor intensive and slow. Moving along with a leaf blower allows one to create a 4-6 foot wide path mostly free of ground litter pretty quickly. It isn't the end all solution, followup is need on un-blowable stuff, etc, but it is a quick first pass to remove a large percentage. A crew of 3-4 can move in a line, the first guy blows, the second guy has a grub ax to move out the brush, and the third guy might have a chainsaw.  Everything is moved from the unburned area into the burn side so that any hidden embers will be allowed to burn out safely. 
 This fire line is then walked regularly to stamp out any cross overs and trim up root trails etc. Every fire is different, but this is a basic layout. This is how we do it in the northeast where the humidity is higher than out west. Not sure if it would apply there as much. East Coast and West Coast firefighting techniques and fire types are so very different that it's like we are on different planets. Heck we don't even use the same terms for the same equipment.
 Ask a firefighter from each coast what the difference is between a "tender' and a 'tanker' and you will get very different answers.  ;D :D
 Let's just say if you call for a tanker on the west coast, you had better know what you are asking for, on the East coast, not so much.

[Southside]

Ok - thanks.  The only wildland fire I have ever been involved with - seen plenty as an observer - was involving a feller buncher that caught.  The local Forest Ranger had two flat tires while enroute with his Indian tanks, in the meantime the contractor sent over a BIG grapple skidder who hooked onto the tracked buncher and drug it into the opening.  Not too long after the landowner, Irving Forest Products, had a helicopter over head dropping water and other than a crispy buncher not much was lost, well except for the State owned tires....  :

[firefighter ontheside]

Here in MO our fire seasons are in the spring and fall when the humidity gets low.  There is a lot of leaf litter on the ground and that's what the fire mainly travels in here.  We use blowers to create fire breaks as described previously.  Very different from out west.  I used to fight fire out there too.  My favorite tool was the Pulaski.  I have several that I use around here for everything and anything.

[Old Greenhorn]

 My favorite tool was the Pulaski.  I have several that I use around here for everything and anything.

I am with you FFotS, that was my first hand tool to grab off the rig, very versatile and light. Wish I had one around here. I was tempted to scoff one off a rig, but just couldn't do it, and we never broke one that I could take and fix. I'd love to have one strapped on my Mule. We get very few heavy fast crown fires up here. but the last big one I worked was like that and blew over a 400 foot safety zone. Pretty scary stuff, changed the way the evaluate every fire in the state now. It could have killed 75 firefighters, but they bailed just in time. That was a rough job, every chopper in the region worked that job moving water and gear. It still pops up in my dreams from time to time. When you see the federal guys, the big 40 year fire bosses walking around white as a sheet, you know it was a close call.
 I kind of miss it, but am getting old.